Fort Vancouver Garden
I was not interested in watching the debate last week, so I decided to get out of the house. I've been wanting to visit the Fort Vancouver Garden for years and decided to go on the spur of the moment. Once I got there, it occurred to me that this was not the peak time to see a vegetable garden but what I did see was interesting and there were quite a number for visitors milling about. This garden once comprised eight acres and the food grown there fed the Hudson's Bay Company Fort's residents. Today's garden is a smaller version and the vegetables and flowers grown there are some of the same varieties found in the fort's records. Text and photos by Phillip Oliver, Dirt Therapy
Our landfill has stopped giving away leaf mulch. Seems there's some state regulation against it unless they test it and have the proper permits. Too bad too, I used a lot of it for a couple years to create new beds. At some point, I'll have to actually purchase compost for $10/truck load.
ReplyDeleteIt is back breaking work. Just seeing your pictures makes me ache.
Unfortunately our local service agency stopped processing yard waste into compost. Seems the people who built homes next to the composting site, after the facility was already there, did not like the smell. Now all this green and brown fertilizer gets buried with regular household trash.
ReplyDeleteI hope you are up and at 'em again today Phillip. It is the most satisfying feeling getting the mulch spread. Like icing on a cake. Everything looks so yummy. I envy that pine straw. We used to have our own, but our pine trees are all gone.
ReplyDeleteI do hope your back is better this morning. That is heavy lifting and bending for sure.
ReplyDeleteI wish you could give The Muscian mulch lessons. LOL He loves to mulch, but I can't tell you how many plants I have to go uncover after he is finished. He's not a gardener and has been known to pull weeds that I had to replant because they were seedlings of mine!
Have a wonderful day!
Phillip, it looks great. Mulching a bed is a finishing touch, like putting a frame on a painting... not exactly, but that comes to mind after we have mulched an areas. Sorry about the back, but a few ibuprofen (plus a couple advil) usually helps me. Likely that will be what happens this evening since the sun is supposed to shine. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteWow, and here I thought it was a lot of work to mulch my little gardens LOL. Those two pain pills were well deserved! :)
ReplyDeleteYou are smart to listen to your back and not push to get more mulching done. I have to do the same thing. Kudos to you for getting the pine mulch off the curb! I do that all the time with bags of mulched leaves I boost off the curb! Everything looks so neat with a layer of mulch. I plan to do mine next week.
ReplyDeleteOne of my main projects this year is to build a compost pile - A year ago, when we bought our house, I didn't know if I'd generate enough yard material to have a successful pile, but after a little bit of analyis, I know I will.
ReplyDeleteThink of it as healthy exercise.
ReplyDeleteCould have been more backbraking weeding all summer if you didn't mulch. I know what you mean though, apart from the obvious mulch benefits, it does pull everything together.
Seeing the progress in your garden is one of my favorite things to see when I log on...it's always so beautiful! You have a great eye!
ReplyDeleteYour garden looks fabulous.
ReplyDeleteOMG Phillip! You reigned the roses on the front slope! I know you've been wanting to do this, since I was living in the valley. When did you do it? It looks great! Too bad the drive to Charlotte is so long; otherwise, you could help me mulch. I'm shovel pruning almost every rose in the yard (rose rosette). My neighbor finally cut down the massive rosa multiflora that is the suspected carrier. So maybe next year I can plant more. We'll see. I MISS YOU and Michael. N.O., LA looked like fun!
ReplyDeleteMulch makes everything look good. I laid some leaves and shredded pine bark on my beds. I need at least three more bags to complete one garden. Will get it today. I love mulch. Your gardens are beautiful.~~Dee
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